Many surgical biopsy tools and devices exist that are used to surgically remove a diseased portion of tissue, such as the surgical treatment of endometriosis by excision, vaporization or coagulation. However, none of these surgical devices were truly designed for this endometriosis procedure and their surgical use by a physician is highly skill dependent. Many laparoscopic surgeons feel that excision of the endometriosis offers the best clinical outcome and allows for pathological analysis of the affected tissue. Other medical practitioners are hesitant to excise endometriosis when it is located on sensitive organs, such as the ovaries, bladder or bowel. Further, existing surgical devices do not provide optimal control and safety.
There remains a need for a novel surgical biopsy device that uses bipolar RF energy to excise the affected tissue and uses vacuum to aspirate the excised tissue within the same biopsy device. This device would control the exact amount of tissue excised with each activation. Further, the positive (+) and negative (−) electrode configuration would result in minimal thermal damage to the unaffected, underlying tissue, permitting the physician to assess whether the diseased tissue has been completely removed. Further, the surgical device would include collection means for the excised tissue to facilitate pathological examination.